Join us on Tuesday, May 7 from 5-6pm for an Artist Talk with Brady Smith and Robin Whatley. Free and open to the public.

What is likely driven from an unhealthy obsession with isolation, Brady Smith’s series Recluse examines recluses from history and the background of their confinement. When discussing the body of work, Smith said, “The drawings, which are made with graphite, gouache and other materials, explore the work of the individual recluses, the places they chose to isolate themselves, and the circumstances of their reclusion.” Wanting the portraits to mirror the lives and works of the people portrayed, he let these elements drive the concepts and materials used in the pieces. This allows for further discussion to happen in the drawings about the nature of reclusion and whether or not the history of these people is true. The recluses included in the series are Emily Dickinson, Christopher Knight, Agnes Martin, Marcel Proust, J. D. Salinger, and Henry David Thoreau.

The artist’s muse has a rich history in the art canon. As viewers, however, we are normally only privy to the work created after a muse has been established. Robin Whatley’s new series of mixed media paintings, A. Muse vs. B. Muse, opens the door to the process of searching for her muse. In a conversation about her new series, Whatley explained some of the challenges and pleasures she has faced in this ongoing search. She has pushed her art-making process, allowing herself to play, explore and experiment. At times, this experimentation has yielded exciting results, while at other times, she has been left searching and explor